Mature-driver Courses Enhance Safety

``You`re vibrant, you`re living good lives (and) it would be a shame to end them accidentally,`` Evers recently told a group of senior citizens.

Now an instructor with the Broward chapter of the National Safety Council who retired last February after 25 years with the Highway Patrol, Evers was on one of his recruiting trips, this time the Concord Village Men`s Club in Tamarac.

Evers was attempting to get the seniors to invest six hours and $15 for a newly approved Safety Council course designed to teach mature drivers how age, slower reflexes and weaker vision affect their ability to drive.

His talk was convincing. About 35 of the 100 people present signed up for the course. Those who graduate are guaranteed a reduction in their auto liability insurance.

``I`ve been looking forward to something like this,`` said Bernie Smolen, 70. ``I think I know what I`m doing when I drive, but I want to make sure I know what I`m doing, and I`ve been driving 55 to 60 years.``

Eleanor Rozner, 62, said, ``You need it around here. Have you ever seen these people drive?``

``I think it will benefit everyone who drives a car, not only myself,`` said Sam Schwartz, 66, who has been driving since 1938. ``It`ll be educational. Our reactions aren`t as good as they used to be. The insurance reduction, that`s a good incentive, but even if they didn`t give it the course is for our own safety. I haven`t had an accident or ticket in 15 years, but that doesn`t mean I shouldn`t sign up. You can always learn.``

Evers, along with Murry Corito, the executive director of the non-profit Safety Council, and Edith Evans, program coordinator, are visiting with senior citizens to inform them about the saving of money and lives.

They`ll bring the course to a condo, club, church or temple. Or they`ll invite senior citizens to take the course at the Safety Council`s office on West Oakland Park Boulevard.

So far, they have plans for either classes or recruiting trips at Bonaventure in southwest Broward, Imperial Point Colonnades in Pompano Beach, the Deerfield Beach Single-Family Homeowners Association and other homeowners groups, condos and clubs.

``We tailor the hours to their needs,`` said Corito. ``They have a lot of activities, a lot of programs. Most seniors are so active you have to make appointments weeks in advance to see them, so we`ll do it when they want. They tell us and we`ll send an instructor.``

The course takes six hours, is given in two three-hour sessions and costs $15 per person. A 10 percent discount is available for groups of 20 or more.

The course is taught by certified National Safety Council instructors. Class size is limited to 35, allowing for a better exchange between students and teachers.

``You can`t imagine the dialogue we get into, the response of drivers to some of the things they see in the films or to what we say,`` Evers told his Concord audience. ``You`ll enjoy it, you`ll have an extremely good time ... as you learn to deal with the wild and crazy drivers on the street.``

Although organizations have offered courses for mature drivers in the past, they couldn`t provide incentives for older drivers to sign up. In 1985, however, the Florida Legislature ordered all insurance companies to give discounts to drivers over 55 who successfully completed a course approved by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

The Legislature didn`t specify the size of the discount, but they are ranging from 5 to 10 percent, according to Donna Harris, a spokesperson for Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter.

So far, only two organizations have submitted courses to the highway safety department for approval. After a rigorous screening procedure that included review by educators, both were approved, first by the highway safety department and then the state Supreme Court`s Traffic Court Review Committee.

The American Association of Retired Persons` ``55 Alive`` course was approved in October 1985 and the safety council`s last October, according to Don Keirn, chief of the Driver Improvement Bureau of the highway safety department.

The new safety council course was developed by the Broward chapter after months of research. It was given a trial run in September at the Mainlands VI condo in Tamarac. As state officials watched, Toni Rubio, occupational and safety manager for the Broward chapter, taught the students. The program received rave reviews and, as a result, the course plan will be used by all safety council chapters statewide.

Although it`s too soon for any formal studies to determine whether the courses do any good, state and insurance officials say it can`t help but improve the driving of mature drivers.